We'll Always Have Huntsville

So I got good news for anyone who happens to be in Paris and can't stop topping the ball. I know a guy. Here's his website:

http://www.marc-pendaries.com/





"Just in case you need a quick fix," says Marc Pendaries, 1985 NCAA Champion, Parisian golf instructor, former European Tour player, French Spirit Team captain, and my roomate for this week.

Marc and I are sharing in a two-bedroom garage apartment on a palatial estate on the shores of Lake Livingston near Whispering Pines. Whoever owns this place is loaded.

Oddly enough, Marc, a native Parisian, has a Houston connection. He was one of the first French golfers to hop the pond and get an American scholarship...with none other than the Dave Williams-coached Houston Cougars. Playing on the same team as Steve Elkington and Billy Ray Brown, Marc helped the Coogs win the 1985 NCAA Championship. This is the first time he's been back to town since graduating in 1988.

Marc also thinks that when you come to his home country you should be thinking about lob wedges as much as the Louvre.

"If somone from Houston goes to Paris for sight-seeing," Pendaries is telling me. "But they never think about golf. When you come to Paris, it's actually a good idea to play golf."

Marc tells me that English architect Tom Simpson made a name for himself in the early 1900s with superb French courses such as Chantilly and Morfontaine.


But Marc's favorite course in France is a new course, Les Bordes. He says Whispering Pines reminds him a lot of it.